The in box. Who does TRS Executive Director Dick Ingram speak for?

The story that you see below appeared in the Springfield State Journal-Register this morning. When the executive director of an public body speaks, especially on a substantive issue, it is a logical assumption that he is speaking not just for himself but for the board that he represents. Director Ingram’s remarks having to do with the reduction of benefits do not represent the position of the Teachers’ Retirement System and the Board. They are contrary to the TRS Board’s position that benefits can not be diminished and are protected by the Illinois Constitution. They are contrary to a discussion that took place on Thursday and Friday of this week in open discussion at our annual retreat. This story is already reverberating across the state and it will be picked up by other media outlets. The quotes from Tom Cross below already show that Director Ingram’s remarks on benefits will not be helpful for the ability of the public employees unions to negotiate with the legislature in the the weeks ahead. There will be other consequences and some of them are obvious. Certainly there will be those who will want to tell me what to do. Understand that I cannot speak for the board on what we will do.

lets see…i started teaching for 3,400.00 a year. worked/taught in education for 50 years…my wife managed to raise six children on the small increases we received each year..by the time i retired i was making a salary of 32,000.00 (after 50 years). i am now 80 years old and you want to take some of our retirement away….i say this………..
ONLY IF YOU PEOPLE IN SPRINGFIELD, WITH YOUR HUGE SALARIES ALSO TAKE SOME OF YOURS AWAY. IF WE CAN LIVE ON 40,000.00 A YEAR SO CAN YOU PEOPLE!!! WHAT DO YOU SAY….WHAT IS GOOD FOR WE TEACHERS IS ALSO GOOD FOR YOU SPRINGFIELD ELITE.

Re Dick Ingram’s comments: As in raising children, set an expectation and the behavior will follow. Ingrams’s “expectation” for Illinois legislators, that they will not fund what they are legally obligated to fund, has opened the door to that. As director of TRS, how dare he publicly state such an expectation! He should resign or be fired…immediately!

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